Yearly trip to the Drs

So here I am Wednesday afternoon sitting zombie like on the sofa.  Yesterday I plucked up the courage and went to my Drs.  He is a lovely man very nice looking, kind, caring and bonus on bonus her speaks a bit of English.  well I did my usual 1 to 10 list of ailments and checkups required and yearly tests needed all translated into french with pictures of various parts of the body strategically pasted and saved by the relevant number and armed with my trustee English/French French/English book of medical terms I drove to his office.

The French Drs is nothing like the ones we have in the UK.  You go into a tiny square which is the waiting room 5 chairs and a boxed off toilet with no washing facilities in the corner.  There is no receptionist or flashing light system or number calling you just go in and you then see who is before you and you go in in turn.  In the UK you would definitely get fights breaking out over who was there first and accusations of pushing in! But in France it is a civilized and polite affair and everyone takes their turn.

So there I sit on the noisy stained chair with a couple of families.  One with a boy that obviously had a stomach problem & kept visiting the toilet, the one without a basin and water!  The other with 5 children who where all screaming.

Waiting patiently for my turn I sat reading my English book with one mind on what I had to say to the Dr.  Eventually it was my turn I walked in the room, a small box with very little equipment in it a desk sink and examining bed.  I dutifully gave him a sheet of paper with 1 to 10 and pictures and he gave me his usual smile and read through everything. Telling me then to lie on the bed he took my blood pressure and said 'Bon' then went over to make a prescription out.

So after buying the many boxes of pills and coming home I have spent most of today trying to work out when and why I have to take so many.  I have decided one is an antibiotic one was a sleeping pill one was a relaxant. Well I took the sleeping pill last night and laid awake until 3am.  Then I took the relaxant and have done nothing but sleep today so Im wondering if I have got them muddled up!!

Also in France when you have to have your regular check ups and test for things you have to make the appointments, buy the things needed for it and off you go! Its all very stressful hahahaha

The joys of living in a foreign country